Wherever we go we seem to encounter stress. Society’s expectations and demands can cause much stress. Stress can come from loss of a beloved, family or love relationships conflicts, marriage, divorce, sexual problems, friends, pressure in the professional domain, unemployment, changing jobs, financial difficulties, getting ready for holidays, physical illness, noise, traffic, neighbours, overwork, childbirth, moving, adapting to new cultures, the list is never-ending. Worry, so many people worry, if there is nothing to really worry about they will find something to worry about, it becomes a way of being, an addiction. People’s destructive and negative thoughts can cause stress.Not everyone is affected in the same way by stress, some even seems to strive on it, or it galvanize them into action. There are also different kinds and levels of stress. Stress can become long term with symptoms such as high blood pressure, fatigue, loss of memory, diabetes, physical illnesses, low self-esteem, loss of confidence and diminished sexual libido etc. Stress untended can even be fatal causing strokes or heart attacks. Research calculated that approximately 80% of major illnesses are influenced by stress. There is a connection between stress and anxiety, panic-attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Stress can affect one physically resulting in harmful illnesses, for instance ulcers, digestive disorders, irritable bowel syndrome and the body’s immune system can be affected.Some people can under estimate the seriousness of the effects and result of stress. Sometimes people get so use to stress that they don’t even realize that they have stress, only when physical symptoms appears do they realize something is wrong.One can combat stress, there are means of putting coping mechanisms and strategies in place.There are things in life we do not control, but we have the power to control how we think and what we think about. We have some control of letting stress diminish our quality of life. Our quality of life is hugely affected by our stress levels and how we learn to cope with it.A quote from Mark Twain: I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.Antoinette Steenkamp